


anchors

by aalydia



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-09
Updated: 2014-07-09
Packaged: 2018-02-08 02:50:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1923927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aalydia/pseuds/aalydia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She pictures his plaid shirt and his messy hair and she's human again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	anchors

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by the sneak peek for 4x04
> 
> there's a two second mention of bondage so like watch out 
> 
> also there's a two second mention of allison and i really really wish i could have added more about her but this is mainly from malia's pov and she a) was trying not to kill everyone and b) never met allison so..

Malia Tate has never been good at control. She's always preferred the act now, think later approach. As a child it was never much of a problem. Sure, sometimes she would get grounded for punching the neighbour but her parents would always shorten it after excessive exposure to her puppy dog eyes. So, yeah, Malia had a problem with control, but it wasn't a big deal. 

Until it was.

Until Malia's lack of control plus the full moon plus no anchor equaled half her family dead. That was kind of a big deal. So much of a big deal that it resulted in her being so overcome with guilt and grief that she became a coyote for eight years.

Those eight years weren't really used to practice her control, so once she's turned back to a normal human - werecoyote, whatever - she's back to stage 1, anchorless and without any control. Needless to say, she kind of hates full moons. 

The day before her first full moon post the coyote era of her life, Scott and Stiles explain the concept of anchors - well, Scott explains while Stiles nods and interrupts with a sarcastic comment every so often - and honestly, Malia doesn't understand it at all. How can something anchor her to her human side when she isn't even totally sure if she  _has_ one. At this point in her life the only thing she knows is her coyote side, the part of her that sends her running into battle at a drop of a hat, the part that would leave Lydia behind. She doesn't know how to be human anymore than she knows how to calculate the slope of a triangle.

She doesn't tell Scott about any of that. Malia might not care all that much about what Lydia or Kira think of her, but she has this need to make Scott (and Stiles) proud. So, instead of voicing her fears, she nods and tells him she's got one in mind, and Scott grins at her and then at Stiles, the picture of a proud Alpha.

 

* * *

 

 

For the first two full moons Scott's busy and Derek and Kira the ones who chain her up and stay with her. Derek can tell right away that she doesn't have an anchor and he tries to talk her through it, help her find one, he really does but she just can't  _focus_. When she asks them to they both promise not to tell Scott. 

 

* * *

 

 

The night of her third full moon something Not Good happens and well, Malia's only been around for three months but even she can tell that's pretty much status quo in Beacon Hills. She can't help, not when she could lose control at any moment, and they need all wolves (or fox, in Kira's case) on deck, so Scott tells Lydia to stay with her. Obviously, because it's them and they can't do anything with at least a couple of road blocks, someone has a problem with that. Surprisingly, the person is Stiles.

"Lydia can't stay," he says almost immediately after Scott's given his instructions and he's met with raised eyebrows from the entire pack (sans Malia who is trying very, very hard not to lose her eyebrows). 

"And why is that?" Lydia demands, raising her chin like it's a challenge.

"Because... Well, because I have more experience with half crazed werecreatures on full moons," he says with a complicated arm wave and a  _so there_  nod. 

"You mean you have one isolated experience that resulted in me escaping and almost eating Allison and Jackson." Malia notices everyone flinch slightly at the name Allison but she's focusing more on not killing everyone to really give it much thought.

"Okay, and Lydia has zero experiences so I still win."

"Why is this an actual conversation?" Derek asks while Lydia glares at Stiles.

"Derek's right, we have bigger problems - no offense, Malia," Scott quickly adds.  "Stiles stay, Lydia you can stay, too, if you want."

"No, I'm coming," Lydia announces. "Kira, you're riding with me."

Once the rest of the pack leaves a slightly unsettling silence falls over them, mostly because Malia's trying really hard not to go full coyote and eat him. 

"You don't have an anchor, do you? You lied to Scott," Stiles says after a moment of watching her struggle. It's a statement, not a question. 

Malia doesn't trust herself to speak, but she looks down at the floor sullenly and let's that speak for itself. 

"Well, that's not a problem," Stiles says and copies Malia's position, crouching across from her. When Malia raises her head to glare at him he quickly adds, "Okay, so  _maybe_  it's a little bit of a problem, but what I'm saying is we can fix that! I can help you find one. I helped Scott."

"Then start  _helping_ ," Malia grounds out, fangs nipping at her bottom lip and drawing blood.

"Shit, okay, well. What about your family? Wait, no that's a bad idea. Um, your dad! He's alive, what about him?"

Stiles watches her face carefully, but if anything she thinks her control might be getting worse. She growls low in her throat and pulls at the chains around her wrists. 

"Okay, so that's out. Hm, maybe you can think about Scott! He pulled you out of your coyote-ness." She growls again and snaps her teeth. Malia can't feel any difference but she knows her eyebrows are gone by now. "No Scott then, um, Kira? No, okay, um. Lydia? Derek? Of course not." By now Malia is more werecoyote than anything else, pulling at the chains with all her strength and throwing her head back and forth, growling at Stiles like a rabid dog. 

"Stiles, just leave!" she commands, trying desperately to hold on to that last bit of her that's still  _her_. She can't hurt someone else and especially not him. 

"I'm not leaving!" he yells back, doesn't even flinch when she gives another hard pull at her chains. 

"I could hurt you," she growls. "I could even kill you.  _I want to_. I want to tear into your flesh and feel your bones break beneath my hands. I want to  _destroy you!_ "

"You act like you're the first werewolf to ever threaten my life,"  he says like they're discussing movies. 

"Stiles, please! I can't hurt someone I care about again!" 

"Hey," Stiles says, moving to make eye contact with her, and his voice is suddenly soft. "I would never leave you, remember? We don't abandon each other, not us. I'm with you, 'til the end of the line." He says the last part in his  _I'm making a reference that you probably don't understand but if you did it would be awesome_  tone but she's too far gone to ask. 

"Stiles! I won't be able to stop myself." Malia pulls again and one rips from the wall, only half way. She lungs forward, all snapping teeth and extended claws. She can feel the chains giving way, bit by bit. "Stiles!"

"Okay, okay!" He finally looks panicked, eyes wind and arms flailing. "Look at me! Just concentrate on me, okay?"

"I'm  _trying!_ "

"Look, you can do this Malia, okay? Just pay attention to me, just.." His eyes flash like he's figured it out and he launches himself forward.

His lips catch hers and one of her fangs breaks the skin of his bottom lip. She can taste his blood on her tongue. For a minute it's everything. For a minute her entire escence is consumed by this one drop of human blood on her tongue. She just wants more and more and  _more_ , more of his blood filling her mouth. She wants to  _kill_ him _,_ to  _devour_  him. 

And then it's gone. The bloodlust, the desire to rip him apart limb by limb, is gone. It's replaced suddenly but her need for  _him_ , just him. His presence, his touch, the taste of the pineapple gum he chews rather than his blood. She pictures his plaid shirt and his messy hair and she's human again. Her fangs don't go away but she feels  _in control_  like she's never been before. She kisses him back, tries to grab at his shirt or neck but without the pull of the moon taking over she doesn't have the strength to break her chains. Eventually her fangs disappear and kissing becomes a bit of a problem with the way they're both grinning against each other's mouths.

He laughs when they pull apart, both of them falling back into sitting positions. Stiles wipes his thumb against where Malia's fang cut him and laughs even louder when he sees the blood that comes away. Malia can't help but join in and soon the room is filled with their joined laughter, however hysterical it might be. 

Once it dies down they spend a moment just looking at each other. Malia can't quite wrap her head around how much this lanky, defenseless boy trusts her. She could have killed him if his plan didn't work. He must have known that and he still went through with it. Malia's not sure if anyone's ever trusted her like that. It fills her with a bright, indescribable joy. It makes her want to be worthy of that trust.

She watches as his mouth, slightly swollen and still reddened by his blood, stretches into an absolutely ridiculous grin. "So," he says, grinning wildly, "does this mean I'm your anchor?"

Malia throws her head back and laughs. "Yeah, I guess this means you're my anchor, you  _dork_." 

"A dork that's your anchor." 

"Would you let me out of these chains, anchor dork?" Malia asks, tugging at them and raising an eyebrow. 

"I don't know," Stiles drawls in a way that would be sexy if he wasn't such a  _dork_. "I mean, I could work with this. Bondage  _is_  on my sexual bucket list." Malia just stares at him, eyebrows raised and lips pursed until he rolls his eyes and let's her out of her restraints (yeah, Lydia taught her that one). "Fine, be a party pooper." Malia rolls her eyes back at him.  _Dork_. 

He flashes her a grin and steals a quick kiss before moving to sit beside her, leaning against the wall. She shuffles until she's leaning her head against his shoulder, far too tired to play big spoon. He wraps an arm around her shoulders and brushes a kiss against the top of her head. They stay like that for a moment before Malia speaks again. "What was that reference?" she asks. 

"Hmm? Oh, the 'end of the line' one?" Stiles laughs like he forgot just how smooth he is. "It's from a comic book. Well, the movie adaption of the comic book, but still. This one guy, Bucky, said it to his best friend, Steve, and then later Steve said it to Bucky when Bucky was trying to kill him. Honestly, I always thought I would use that line on Scott but, hey, it works for us, too. I can find another comic book inspired line for Scott."

Malia smiles softly. "Those names sound familiar. What comic book?"

"Captain America."

"There's a movie adaptation of  _Captain America_?" So maybe young Malia had a thing for comic books - sue her.

"Uh, ye- _ah_  there is! Two, actually. And an Avengers movie! Man, we are so watching them when we get home - er, to my house." Malia glances up to see him blush and reach a hand up to rub his neck. She bites her lip around a fond grin.

"We better," she says instead of commenting on his slip up. _Stiles. Anchor. Home._ Yeah, that sounds right.


End file.
